


Along the Road

by Elvishdork



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon Compliant, Found Family, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24025675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvishdork/pseuds/Elvishdork
Summary: A journey told through camping.(The Story of FFVII retold through the moments the team has to camp.)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. Disk 1

In the first days just outside Kalm, when it is just the five of them, the tent feels cramped. 

Red XIII curls up in the far corner of the tent; eye always facing the entrance. He says little and sleeps lightly. His left ear twitches every time someone shifts in their sleeping bag.

Aerith fidgets with her hair. She doesn’t say it, but she misses the plate above her head. Now it is just endless sky. It feels so big; larger than she ever thought it would.

Tifa sets her sleeping bag up next to Aerith, sleeps with her back to Cloud. She hasn’t said much since the conversation at the Inn back in Kalm. For now she lets the matter slide; but the longer she does, she knows the harder it will be to say something later. Selfish perhaps, but she can’t bring herself to say the truth just yet.

Barret sits against the far end of the tent, trying to take up less room despite his size. He cleans the gun on his right arm. He grumbles about Shinra’s many crimes as he cleans. It makes the pain easier to bear: the loss of Biggs, Jessie, Wedge, Sector 7. More than the loss though, it’s the distance between Marlene and him. He should be reading her a story and tucking her into bed around now, not camping out in the wilderness. 

Cloud sets his sleeping bag up on the opposite end from Barret, trying to give Red XIII room in the corner of his side of the tent. Before sleep he counts materia and gil and redistributes it among the group before they all sleep. It’s easier to do so now than in the morning; safer too in case they are attacked in the night by monsters or worse. When he does sleep, he falls asleep quickly. SOLDIER training and deployments means he’s picked up the ability to fall asleep anywhere. Even a light sleep is better than none.

* * *

South of the mythril mine and west of Fort Condor Yuffie joins their tent. If it was cramped before, it is uncomfortably so now. Yuffie has no sense of personal space, sprawling out across the middle of the tent, her legs poking into Aerith’s and her arms draping over Tifa’s side. If either woman minds, they do nothing to move her. Perhaps they are too exhausted to argue the point.

Red XIII has moved from Cloud’s corner to the spot next to the tent flap. Curled up tightly, he keeps an ear pointed towards the outside. His eye trained on Yuffie’s sleeping form.

There isn’t much gil for Cloud to count, on account of nearly all of it being given to Fort Condor. He keeps a tighter hold on the materia for now. He’ll pass it out in the morning, putting the bag full of it under his pillow. He presses his back to the side of the tent.

Barret barely sleeps that first night.

* * *

Considering Costa del Sol is a tourist trap, none of them are able to afford renting beds at the only inn with any vacancies. So they sleep on the road outside the town. With stuffy heat still clinging to the air with only light gusts of wind coming off of the coast as their only reprieve. 

Cloud stays awake too long, thinking of Hojo’s cackling and advice to just continue west. He clenches his fists a few times, but it does little to alleviate the buzz of nerves at the back of his head. 

Aerith fidgets that night as well. Tifa runs her fingers through her hair, soothing her anxieties over seeing her old captor. They will not let Aerith be taken away to a lab again. When Tifa finishes braiding her hair, Aerith almost feels at peace again.

* * *

The dumb cat refuses to leave them after the Gold Saucer and Corel. The fortune telling bot calls itself Cait Sith and it enthusiastically cannot wait to see how it’s fortunes come to pass. No one is in the mood for its sense of cheer. As it is a robot, the group gives it watch duty as they step into tents.

They’ve finally picked up a second tent. Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie huddle inside the newer one that they have all to themselves. Aerith still sleeps by Tifa’s side. Yuffie has even more room to sprawl, though now she doesn’t have to do so atop the other ladies. 

In the other tent, Barret spends a particularly long time tracing the design engraved in the gold pendant Dyne had tossed at him. Neither Cloud nor Red XIII know what to say about the swirl of thoughts and memories clearly affecting their friend, so they allow him as much silence as he wants.

* * *

They do not linger for long in Gongaga. The Turks presence was concerning, especially given what Elena let slip. Cloud stares at the tarp of the tent above his head listening to Barret’s rhythmic snoring. If they have a spy, he doesn’t know who it could be. Truthfully, he doesn’t want to think of any of his companions betraying him to Shinra. 

Yuffie may be a thief who eyes their materia a bit too much, but she despises Shinra as much as the rest of them. 

Cait Sith is a robot, programmed and running around on those parameters. But Cloud thinks “spy” and he thinks Turk: professional, calm, quiet, and obedient. Cait Sith is none of those: overly dramatic and loud and colorful. With all of that, when would the cat even contact Shinra? Cloud hasn’t seen the thing even use a PHS.

The rest of them have been through too much at the hands of Shinra to pass information along. Rolling over, Cloud doesn’t want to think of any of them as spies.

With nothing else to think of, he thinks of two concerned faces asking after their son: Aerith’s boyfriend who never came back. Exhaling, Cloud tries to get rid of the painful buzzing in the back of his skull.

* * *

Cosmo Canyon is the first time they’ve slept on solid beds since Junon. With the buggy broken down a few miles west of the town shortly after nightfall, there is not more they can do. The town is interesting with it’s wind and solar power. Lanterns of fire materia glow and illuminate the streets and the caves they have built their homes into. 

During the day the people are kind, swap stories and information, and share good meals. 

Looking into the bonfire at the center of town as the hot sun begins to set over the canyon, Barret declares Avalanche anew. The first time they’ve seen the fire back in his eyes since North Corel. It is a good change, familiar and normal.

Tifa hangs on the edge of saying something, but decides against sharing. Another time perhaps. Though she knows she can’t keep using that excuse forever.

Sitting beside Nanaki - not Red XIII - Cloud think’s Bugenhagen is an interesting individual with his planetarium. It’s not just a fight to settle the score with Sephiroth anymore, it’s for the future of the planet. Barret was always a little right about it after all.

He hasn’t just given Cloud a lot to think of, but Aerith too. She has been quiet, working through the buzz of new information from the Canyon’s elders. So much knowledge that she never would’ve gotten back at Midgar.

Their second night in the Canyon is calm, all gathered around the Candle, until Bugenhagen approaches them with other thoughts about Nanaki’s father.

* * *

They do not sleep in Nibelheim even though the Inn is empty. The town feels like a ghost: all the right places but none of the right faces. Everyone they speak to denies the town’s destruction. There is an old woman living in Cloud’s childhood home and a bunch of cloaked people sit around Tifa’s.

Up near Mt. Nibel they pitch their tents late into the evening, when it feels like hiking the rest of the mountain path would be too dangerous without sufficient light.

Vincent Valentine, having slept enough for a lifetime and unsure of the group he’s joined, does not go to sleep. He spends time servicing his pistol and before the rest of their tent falls asleep, asks questions about current events. 

In the other tent, Tifa doesn’t sleep. Despite Aerith’s reassurance and calming presence, the ghosts of Nibelheim don’t let her rest easy that night.

* * *

They set up camp on the coastline of Wutai, with the Tiny Bronco tied down so that the tide doesn’t sweep it back out to sea. 

Cid spends time pacing outside the tent, shouting over his PHS and chain smoking something fierce. He talks to Shera to settle some kind of affair while he’s away. All the while Cait Sith watches him pace, but says nothing. 

Nanaki shakes out his fur and grumbles about getting wet. Aerith giggles at the sight.

Yuffie is abuzz with excitement, unable to wait to show the group her homeland. Even still, she goes to sleep earlier than usual with the promise of a great tomorrow.

Cid complains about the lack of tea in their camping commodities. But he takes the back of the tent, refusing the middle. Nanaki eventually settles in the middle as the other men take their respective spots along the edges of the tent. The canvas is worn, showing signs of beaten wear and tear. They will need a replacement soon, perhaps a larger one too.

* * *

No one sleeps well for the remainder of their trip in Wutai. 

Not after Yuffie steals all their materia and forces them through a wild goose chase through the city. 

Not even after rescuing Yuffie and Elena from Don Corneo. The sight of the sleazy bastard is enough to ruin any ideas of decent sleep.

Even after Yuffie returns the materia and takes her rightful spot in the ladies’ tent no one sleeps that well. It is restless at best. Agitated energy from being vigilant to prevent further theft from the teenager.

* * *

Cait Sith is their spy. 

No one sleeps well. It’s not even an issue with the Golden Saucer’s tacky haunted house decor. They lose sleep over the recording of Marlene being used as a hostage. Barret practically vibrating with anger at the rat bastard behind the robot. Because Cait Sith isn’t just a robot running on programming, it’s being remote controlled by someone back in Midgar.

Tifa clenches and unclenches her fists. She wants to beat the cat into a robotic pulp. She would if not for Marlene. 

Aerith fidgets the night away. Restless worry over not only Marlene but also her mother. What did they do to her mom to take Marlene away? Or is her mother held captive too? Anxiety eats at her gut the rest of the night.

Yuffie curses Shinra out before sleep finally claims her. She should’ve known better than to trust the robot from the continent. 

Cid also curses the robot, no more than his usual vocabulary allows. He chain smokes, drinks shitty Golden Saucer tea, and then finally sleeps.

Vincent doesn’t sleep. Not with a coffin hanging against the wall of his room shared with Cid and Nanaki. He thinks to his days as a Turk, but decides they wouldn’t have brought Marlene to any location he knows of. 

Tomorrow they will set sail on the Tiny Bronco for the Temple of the Ancients because that’s what Cait Sith wants them to do. 

Despite the solid beds, no one sleeps well.

* * *

Aerith is gone and Cloud is unconscious. The black materia is with Sephiroth. Everything feels wrong.

Tifa gets the group to sail back to Gongaga because it’s as good a place as any. It’s closer than Cosmo Canyon and at least the town doesn’t have a Shinra presence. 

She wants to put her fist through Cait Sith’s - the second one’s - stupid robotic face. Something, anything, to take her anger and worry out on.

Cid smokes outside the small house where the people are kind enough to take Cloud in. There isn’t enough room for everyone to crowd in, so only Barret and Tifa enter. So Cid smokes, Vincent glares a hole into the side of the building, Yuffie fidgets, Nanaki sits, and the robot is smart enough to be quiet.

When they camp in town that night, no one is happy and nobody wins.

* * *

They spend longer than they would like in Bone Village trying to dig up some stupid lunar harp. The locals tell them they need it to make it through the woods and Cloud is convinced that this is where Aerith would’ve gone. The excavation site is small, the ground is all kinds of shifted and lumpy under their backs in the sleeping bags.

Tifa doesn’t sleep well with Aerith’s missing presence in the tent. With just her and Yuffie, it feels wrong.

Cloud doesn’t sleep from the guilt of what he did.

* * *

The Forgotten City is a marvel to behold. They spend the night in an old home. The building is remarkably intact and there is a decent outline of old beds carved out in the coral. 

They all make themselves comfortable and sleep better than they have in several nights in Bone Village. 

Too bad sleep is interrupted.

* * *

They don’t spend a second night in the Forgotten City. 

Aerith is dead, laid to rest in the abandoned capital of her people. 

Tifa’s eyes are puffy and red from so many tears. She had tucked Aerith’s hair out of her face, almost like she had played with it on so many nights inside their tent. It felt so final, so wrong.

Barret had cried too. Everything started because Aerith had saved Marlene. He owes her more than he can ever repay and now she’s dead. Like so much else it’s not fair. 

Yuffie had sobbed, clug to Cloud until the worst of it had passed and then to Tifa when it became too much again.

Nanaki had howled, mournful in the same way he had back in the Canyon as a final goodbye to Seto. 

Cid walked without his usual trail of smoke. It didn’t feel right. Of all of them, Aerith deserved it the least.

Vincent walked with his head hung. A mournful look in his eyes as he brought up the rear of their group. It’s one more thing he couldn’t prevent.

Cait Sith had attempted it’s usual cheer, until the looks from the rest of the group silenced it into somber steps instead of its usual cheery skips. 

With heavy hearts they feel her absence and make their way to Icicle Inn.


	2. Disk 2 & 3

Icicle Inn lives up to its name. Despite the fireplace in the lobby below their feet, not enough warmth penetrates through the floorboards and into their rooms.

Normally the cold wouldn’t bother Tifa so much. Being from the mountains, she and Cloud are better adapted for colder weather. Yet tonight Tifa shivers under her quilt feeling under-dressed for the northern continent. 

Yuffie’s teeth chatter as she curls in on herself under the thick scratchy blanket. She had stolen the extra quilt off the third bed in the room she’s sharing with Tifa. Under two quilts it still doesn’t feel like enough.

Nanaki burrows under his thick blanket. All but his nose hidden from the cold as he sleeps. 

Barret sleeps with his gun arm outstretched away from his body. The cold metal is not welcome against his skin right now as he tries to conserve heat.

Cid goes through a litany of curses at the cold. His nose is red and there is a visible shake to him as he holds the thick quilt tightly over his shoulders. 

Vincent does not remove his prosthetic. However there is a minute where he silently debates it. Instead he settles to sleep on his side, metal prosthetic under his body weight in an attempt to warm it. Even as claws poke into his skin he curls up, knees to chest.

Cloud sleeps despite the cold. Perhaps it’s the mako or a childhood in the shadow of Mt. Nibel, but he doesn’t seem to suffer the cold air like the others.

Worse than the cold, however, each of them is still grieving. Still feeling the absence of Aerith.

It is a long and cold night.

* * *

If Icicle Inn was cold, then the cabin by the Great Glacier is on a whole other level. Holzoff is a kind host, passing out hot mugs of tea and explaining how to keep their body temperatures up to prevent hyperthermia as they climb Gaea’s Cliff. 

They camp out in the cabin, sleeping bags spread out on the floor and huddled close from lack of space. The added bonus is the extra bit of shared warmth after the fireplace dies out for the night.. 

Cloud sleeps next to Barret, the gun arm separating them. Still unbothered by the colder night air inside the cabin, Cloud sleeps as well as he usually does.

Tifa sleeps next to Cloud. Her back to him as she sleeps.

Barret sleeps cocooned inside his sleeping bag, his gun arm the only body part sticking out. Even under the thick covering of the bag his snoring is heard.

Yuffie lays with her side pressed against Nanaki, soaking up extra heat from his fur. Her teeth don’t chatter as badly as the night previous.

Content after several mugfuls of tea, Cid falls asleep with little complaint. He sleeps with his back to Vincent’s sleeping bag. He doesn’t complain when the other ends up pressed against him during the night.

Vincent sleeps rather well despite the temperature and being in a stranger’s home. Surprisingly, with his back against Cid’s and Yuffie’s legs draped across his shins, it is one of his better nights of sleep.

* * *

They fly out of the North Crater on Shinra’s fancy airship. They had little choice in the matter.

Sephiroth has the black materia again. Cloud was engulfed by the lifestream and they all had to flee. 

Tifa is unconscious in the sick bay. Barret stands vigil by her side with his arms crossed. The gun arm on full display and giving anyone on Shinra’s payroll second thoughts.

Nanaki glares at Hojo across the sickbay’s glass window, hackles raised. He almost dares the professor to give him a reason to sink his teeth into his flesh. Not that he needs anymore reasons from all the past dealings back in Midgar. He sits at the foot of Tifa’s bed and stands vigil with Barret.

Yuffie foregoes sleep for puking into a bucket. Vincent glares daggers at the two Shinra footsoldiers they have stationed at the sickbay doors. He doesn’t trust himself to look upon Hojo without taking some kind of action. 

Cid, forbidden from smoking by those in charge of the ship, grumbles about how inefficiently Heidegger and Rufus are running his airship. He shakes his head, “If we had the Highwind, things would be a lot easier.” He says to no one in particular.

Cait Sith is powered down as the unit is unnecessary at the moment. Reeve has other orders and paperwork from the President to attend to. But, as the ship flies closer to Junon, something sinks in his gut.

No one sleeps. At dawn they land in Junon. They take Tifa out on a stretcher for better medical attention. Barret follows at the heel of her stretcher.

The Soldiers keep watch on the rest of their band as they await further instruction. Cid chews a cigarette filter, waiting for whatever signal Cait Sith had failed to describe before he left too.

It comes crackling over the loudspeaker: “Fire! Fire!” 

As the fire alarm blares the Soldiers jump to a start and rush out the doors of the sickbay. Cid glances at the rest of their group and they head towards the now unguarded and open doors.

There is no fire, only a mutney. On the decks they help fight, tossing Shinra soldiers out and over railings.

Cid guides a trainee pilot and they take off out of Junon with the Highwind and her crew. The feeling of freedom and bliss of escape for Cid is short lived as the ominous glowing shadow of a meteor is summoned on the horizon.

* * *

It is seven long nights before Tifa and Barret are back with them. 

Tifa takes charge of their fractured group. Cloud is still lost to the lifestream, but Nanaki insists that there are places he could’ve come out. 

With nothing else to go on, they head back to Cosmo Canyon for Bugenhagen’s wisdom.

No one sleeps easily.

* * *

In Mideel they finally find Cloud. His condition is critical; one of the most severe cases of mako poisoning anyone has ever seen. 

Tifa stays behind to help care for him. She sleeps in a chair beside his hospital bed, one hand curled around Cloud’s unresponsive one. Every time his hand twitches, she jerks out of whatever light sleep she’s managed to doze into. 

It isn’t until Cid wakes up from a nap on that first day to find out that he’s been put in charge of this band of numbskulls. Gathered around the meeting table with mugs of goddamned tea and worried faces while Cait Sith rambles on about Shinra’s plans on collecting Huge Materia. 

Everyone disperses to their respective places on the Highwind while Cid tells the pilot in training to head to Fort Condor. He naps in the copilot’s chair, dozing between bouts of flight instruction and navigational direction. He didn’t remember to get everyone’s materia before they went off to wherever they went to sleep. That had been Cloud’s job. Amid bouts of cat napping, Cid waves the job off until the morning.

Barret sleeps in the crew quarters. He fits himself into one of the beds that folds from the wall and stares at the ceiling until sleep overtakes him. It’s not fair that Shinra is planning to wreck the already shabby remains of North Corel. And they won’t if he has anything to say about it.

Yuffie sleeps poorly amid bouts of motion sickness. Her head spins and, although she is sure that there is nothing left in her stomach, her stomach clenches like she is on the edge of throwing up again. 

Nanaki sleeps not far from Cid on the bridge. Not entirely comfortable with the sway of the airship as it flies, he curls up and listens to the pilots. 

Vincent sleeps in the crew quarters on a bed a few down from Barret. It is a light, uneasy sleep, but better than none at all.

* * *

Fort Condor has beds on solid ground that everyone but Cid is relieved at. Cid jokes about everyone’s lack of “air legs”; yet he still crashes into the soft mattress at the end of the day’s battle. The Huge Materia and warm red summoning materia are tucked snugly in his coat pocket as he sleeps the night away. He forgets who has what materia currently and doesn’t really care to take stock right now either. Cloud might’ve had the patience to settle the matter before sleep, but Cid decides he doesn’t have desire to deal with the issue without it.

Yuffie practically passes out from exhaustion. Her night spent in Fort Condor is the best night’s sleep she’s had in well over a week. She sleeps through the night, sprawled across her own bed. 

Nanaki sleeps curled up at the foot of Barret’s bed. With not enough actual beds, he had gotten himself comfortable on the floor before Vincent had stripped his bed of his quilt. With it, he had curled up on a nice warm surface and slept soundly despite several people’s snoring. 

Vincent wraps himself up in his cloak and sleeps as well as he is able. It is leagues better in comparison to his sleep aboard the Highwind. But personally he tends to sleep poorly wherever they go. Though he supposes that 30 odd years in a coffin will do that. 

Cait Sith powers down for the night not far from the ladder. In Midgar, Reeve deletes stores of footage from the day’s battle at the fort. He’ll have to come up with some convincing lie for Rufus, but he decides that can wait until tomorrow’s meeting. He locks up the office and heads home, looking forward to sleeping in his own bed.

* * *

With a night in-between North Corel and Fort Condor, most of their band is lacking in sleep again. That doesn’t stop them from doing the damn job they came to do.

In one of the tents the locals pass off as houses, they all gather their sleeping bags and take their well deserved rest. It’s because of them that Shinra’s train hadn’t flattened what remained of the town. 

Ultima materia in one hand, the second Huge Materia in the other, Cid tucked in for a long night of sleep. He still feels the phantom rocking of the train as it had picked up speed. An odd feeling that haunts him until sleep finally claims him. He’s never been much of a fan of trains anyway.

Barret practically collapses into sleep as soon as he’s in his own bag. This was almost the second time he watched his people - his hometown - wiped off the map. But he didn’t and now he has the Catastrophe manual to figure out. Too tired to deal with it tonight, he sleeps.

Yuffie once again takes advantage of any sleep on solid ground that she can get. Sprawled out as she usually is, she ends up snug against Nanaki’s curled form. Nanaki gives the girl no mind, already familiar and in too much need of sleep himself.

Vincent eventually lets exhaustion drag him under as well. Although he wakes from a nightmare in the middle of the night, he spends the rest of the time until the rest of the group awakes staring a hole into the tent tarp above him.

* * *

Cid is covered in bruises. Hell, his bruises have bruises when he finally falls asleep; collapsing into a bunk in the crew’s quarters. But he doesn’t mind; not really. Cloud is back, in a better state of mind, and they all survived a fight with Ultimate Weapon. 

Mideel might not really be on the map anymore, but hey they’re alive and that’s what counts. They spend the night on course to Junon. 

Barrett snores in a cot to Cid’s left. Tifa sleeps on one between Barrett and Cloud. She sleeps on her side facing Cloud, exhausted from her own dip in the lifestream. Cloud sleeps solidly for the first time since the North Crater.

Yuffie doesn’t sleep, but that’s been consistent with her time on the Highwind. Cait Sith, deactivated, holds Yuffie’s bucket throughout the night.

Nanaki takes his spot back on the bridge. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever get used to sleeping on the airship. He’s thankful that at least he doesn’t get sick like Yuffie.

Vincent sleeps intermittently through the night on the bed on Cid’s right. When he wakes in the middle of the night he listens to his friend’s breathing and snoring.

With the whole group assembled again, it’s a better night’s sleep than the ones leading up to it.

* * *

Cid sleeps on the Highwind, dozing as he waits for word from the sub. They have radio contact, but they’re still sweeping the ocean floor for Shinra’s sub that was transporting the Huge Materia. 

Yuffie actually sleeps. With the ship landed and waiting, she gets a long enough reprieve from her motion sickness to actually sleep. It’s a blessed thing and she actually thanks every deity she can name before she finally passes out for the night.

Nanaki sleeps pretty well on the bridge too, despite keeping an ear out for the other’s radio chatter. 

Vincent sleeps as well as he can. Which is to say periodically and not entirely restful.

Cloud, Tifa, and Barret forego sleep that night as they comb the ocean’s surface for the bright red wreckage of a submarine. They are vigilant to avoid Emerald Weapon as it stalks the ocean’s floor with them.

* * *

Back on solid earth, their group sleeps in Rocket Town. 

It takes Cid a long time to fall asleep. Too much energy from bast off and landing and everything in between. He was in outer space, damnit! A lifelong dream finally realized when he had almost given up hope.

Cloud practically collapses into sleep. Tired and ragged and feeling a bitter sting of failure for the Huge Materia that crashed into Meteor. He couldn’t get the damn code in time before security brought the materia into a secure lockdown. 

Tifa and Yuffie sleep in their room of the Inn. Yuffie, taking advantage of any sleep she can get, passes out on her bed within minutes of getting to the room. On the other hand Tifa stares out the window for a time, thinking about stars and space and bits of memory finally reaffirmed. 

Barret sleeps without issue, snoring as he usually does. Everyone else, already long used to the rhythmic sound, pays it no mind.

Nanaki curls up on his bed and sleeps soundly. He would’ve liked to have gone to space, would’ve liked to have told his Grandfather about it, but he supposes he’s probably better off. He doubts he would’ve liked the feeling of trying to walk in zero gravity.

Vincent sleeps decently through the night. He finally dozes off once Cid finally falls asleep.

* * *

After Cosmo Canyon they chart their course back to the Forgotten City in the northern continent. 

Nanaki sleeps on the bridge, in his usual place, but it is a better sleep with the proximity to his grandfather. 

Cid ends up talking to Bugenhagen well into the night. Chatting about the stars and skies above them. He might not believe Bugenhagen’s claim about hearing the planet, not like Aerith had, but he still appreciates the knowledge of the stars that he has seen. The ones he flew alongside if only for a moment.

Vincent stays on the bridge as well. Restless and knowing that sleep won’t come to him easily, he watches the horizon as they fly towards the northern continent.

Yuffie spends the night clinging to a bucket in the machinery room. She hates the long nights they spend in flight.

In the crew quarters Barret, Tifa, and Cloud sleep as well as they can on their respective beds.

* * *

They don’t sleep in the Forgotten City. Too many memories and grief still hangs heavy among them in Aerith’s absence. 

They’re missing some kind of key and, of all the places it could be, Cloud thinks they need the submarine again. So it’s back to Junon where they left the damn thing. 

If it’s any consolation to Yuffie, no one sleeps well on the flight this time.

* * *

After the first day of combing the sea, they come back to the Highwind to sleep.

Vincent doesn’t sleep. He services his new gun - Death Penalty - and tries to deal with the latest wave of grief and regret that washes over him. He lied to Lucrecia and he still isn’t sure if that was a kindness or just another sin.  
It almost doesn’t matter now because she’s encased in crystal in the heart of that cave.

Cid stays on the bridge, a respectable distance from Vincent as he works on his gun. He knows he needs his space, but decides he doesn’t want to leave the man entirely alone. If Vincent minds, he could move.

He doesn’t.

Yuffie sleeps on a bed in the crew quarters. Without the ship in flight it is a solid night of sleep without her stomach doing somersaults. 

Reeve doesn’t sleep. The reports just came in about the sunken Gelnika and the Turks are being dispatched as he reads. He has the robot tell Cid about it and they’ll add it to the agenda as they search the ocean. 

Barret sleeps and hopes he won’t have to go back on the submarine. Not usually his issue, but the little sub felt claustrophobic.

Tifa sleeps on her side facing Cloud. Cloud sleeps on his side facing Tifa.

* * *

They are battered, bruised, and bloodied; but they are alive.

The sunken Gelnika had been a jackpot of important equipment. There had been Turks and monsters, though the former was easier to fight than the latter. Cid now has the equipment to call in an airstrike, Yuffie has a new shiny shuriken, and Cloud has some new shiny materia to hand out among them. 

The problem had happened when they exited the ship and ran face to face into Emerald Weapon. 

Let it be known, underwater battles suck. But they had emerged victorious, made it with their lives and all their limbs. So it counted. Even as they poured out of the submarine and walked back onto the Highwind looking like waterlogged cats.

They had even found a weird spiky shell that looked like it belonged in the Forgotten City under an island before it all went to hell in a handbasket. 

So while the Highwind set off towards the northern continent again, Tifa used Cure on some very injured friends: Cloud, Barret, and Cid. Each of them fell into sleep from exhaustion and rapid healing. 

Still completely worth it.

* * *

They don’t make it to the northern continent without incident. Midway through the night they fly too close to Ultimate Weapon. Alarms blare, everyone rushes to the deck to fight round two with the Weapon. 

Except it takes off again while they’re kicking its ass.

Cid rushes back to the bridge, takes over as pilot and follows the Weapon - hot on its tail. They get knocked through the air a few times before settling outside Midgar. 

They fight, it runs: wash, rinse, and repeat. 

Even after only recovering from the last Weapon they fought, Cid doesn’t let up the chase. He keeps his eye on the Weapon all through the night. He goes through a string of curses and practically rams the Highwind into the side of the thing’s dark hide. 

Until finally the Weapon makes its final stand outside Cosmo Canyon. There they finish it. There is a new crater in the landscape, but they have two defeated Weapons under their belts now. 

They all sleep like the dead that night.

* * *

Make that three Weapons as Diamond Weapon’s remnants drag back into the sea. 

They have a long night ahead of them as Cid prepares them all for a parachute landing.

* * *

Cloud told them to go home. They have about seven days before Meteor’s impact. He tells them to be sure about what they’re fighting for. Really though, he’s giving them a choice. 

Even if they stop Sephiroth and help unleash Holy, it might not be enough. 

This may well be their last days. Everyone should have a choice on how they’re spent. 

He spends the night holding Tifa close. Her head tucked into the crook of his neck, his arm around her shoulders. He looks up at the stars and thinks about two teenagers sitting on the water tower. He thinks of Sector 7, everyone they’ve met along the way, and every place they’ve been.

Sleeping up against Cloud’s side, Tifa feels it too. They’re still those kids from Nibelheim, though some of the years have been unkind. 

They’re all they have left now.

Cid doesn’t leave the Highwind. He doesn’t see the point in going back to Rocket Town. Without the Shinra No.26 to make the place Rocket Town, it feels pointless to go back. The Highwind is his home: it was when he built it and he’s only just gotten it back. Besides, he knows what he’s fighting for: that tiny ball floating in the expanse of space and no way in hell is he going to sit back and let Aerith’s death be in vain. 

Vincent doesn’t leave the Highwind either. There is nowhere left for him to go anyway. He has no desire to return to Nibelheim or Midgar. Hojo is dead and there is a comfort in that. Lucrecia is dead too. He will not lock himself away for the rest of time. He will see this through to the end.

Barret does leave. He spends a flight to Kalm with Cait Sith. He’s going to see his daughter. He’s going to hold Marlene and give her an inheritance - Dyne’s dying wish - and make peace for what he’ll do. He’s going to fight for her. If that means he dies before her, unable to be there when Meteor falls, then he’s made peace with that. Because if they’re successful, then he won’t have to regret leaving her again.

Nanaki returns to Cosmo Canyon only to be in time for Bugenhagen’s last words. His mission in life, if he has any. He sets back out towards the Highwind. He’ll make his father and grandfather proud.

Yuffie doesn’t stray too far from the Highwind. She doesn’t return to Wutai. Her father told her to go and see this through. She will, loading Leviathan into her weapon’s materia slot. 

Reeve, after bringing Barret to Marlene, spends the night on efforts to evacuate Midgar. It is a sleepless, chaotic night.

* * *

It’s finally over.

Sephiroth is dead. Meteor has hit Midgar. Holy saved the planet.

They gather in Kalm’s Inn. Everyone is gathered around the small bar: bruised and battle weary and victorious. Barret holds Marlene on his shoulder. Reeve sits with them in person. 

At some point they toast. To Aerith: the flower girl from the slums who thought the sky was too big. She saved them all. They all still miss her, but celebrate the night in her honor too.

Then it’s to victory, to defeating Sephiroth, to stopping Meteor, to stopping Shinra, and for the Planet. 

This might not be their last night in an Inn. There isn’t much adventuring they need to do. From here on out they have rebuilding ahead of them. But before they set off on their separate ways, they spend the night in Kalm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thank you so much for reading! After playing through the remake I replayed the original. I played around with which characters I had in my party at certain times, trying to mix it up from my usual play throughs, and really enjoyed seeing more of the characters. This fic was my little way to reflect on them and how much I love this game.


End file.
